A Million Little Things

Today is the official halfway point of pre-departure training. In another couple of weeks, I'll be on my way to Malawi along with the other 4 people headed to join EWB's sector teams in the country. According to my weather wiki, it's 28 degrees and sunny in the capital city of Lilongwe.

I'm supposed to be catching up on my homework today: we have a presentation to give on The Critical Villager: Beyond Community Participation, a book that is described by a past EWB volunteer as "a book which is intermittently in print purely because Parker Mitchell, co-CEO of EWB, orders so many copies." I think the book might actually have some traction outside of EWB, but I digress...

Rather than thinking constructively about my homework, I find myself more interested in reflecting a bit on my experiences so far. I think that sharing some of my observations with you fine people might help me get back on track. So, without further ado...

1. Of course one of my political fantasies comes to pass just in time for me to miss the election night party. Pfft.

2. My friends and family at home are amazing. In particular, amazing by phone, by facebook, by fundraising support, by farewell party (though not necessarily by posting photos of that party...) and by gifts for Africa that have already made my day (including a lot of advice).

3. Case in point: the furnace pilot light for the house wasn't lit when we arrived. We noticed yesterday when room temperature slipped to a chilly 14 degrees. After some tinkering (living with a bunch of engineers has its perks), we got it working and are now enjoying the pleasant sensation of central heating. In the meantime, however, I was lucky enough to have my very own microfibre travel blanket.

4. Many hands really do make light work. During pre-departure training, we've been learning a lot (since Monday morning, we've done training sessions on the history of the development sector, frameworks for understanding behaviour change, agriculture, effective writing, and understanding power & privilege). It's a lot of information to take in, and being able to work/share with the incredible group of people in this sending group has definitely made my life easier.

5. It's really hard to wrap your head around switching continents. I have my e-ticket booked, I'm halfway through a training module designed to get me to prep myself for departure, and I'm in regular contact with my coach (aka my EWB supervisor) overseas, and I'm still not really processing the fact that I'm going to Africa for a year. Go figure.

6. There are a lot of restaurants in Toronto. I know that seems obvious, but so far I've eaten Vietnamese twice, Thai twice, sushi, Indian, Italian twice, Second cup sandwich once, Chinese bakery once, pizza, shawarma, soda jerk diner ham & eggs, Duff's famous wings, Portuguese bakery breakfast, Starbucks snackfood of some kind, and a Portuguese deli sandwich. I've only return visited one restaurant so far and I've grabbed coffee from two different Second Cups, one Starbucks and two independent places. I'd like to do more independent/fair trade coffee places, but they're surprisingly difficult to find unless you know where to look.
And that doesn't even get into the home-cooked meals. Some of the guys here like to cook (and some peoples' moms are taking really good care of us), meaning that feasts of pasta & home-made sauce, French toast, curry, samosas, pakora and TRUFFLES!
Delicious. Not necessarily nutritious, but definitely delicious.

7. Last (and probably least), Canada is a really pretty country in the fall.